Why did the console bit wars end? During the 32 bit era, PS1 and Saturn were 32 bit systems, and Nintendo was boasting about having a 64 bit system. The last time console makers boasted about bits in their system was the sixth generation, with the Dreamcast, GameCube, and PS2 being 128 bits.

Question

Why didn’t the bit war continue into the seventh generation? Why didn’t the amount of bits double to 256 bits like they did in past generations? Any insight into this would be appreciated.

In: 609

Answer 1

Because 128 bits is way way way more than anyone can make productive use of. That would provide enough memory space to address every single molecule in the entire universe. 64 bits is plenty.

The mistake people make is that they think 128 bits is twice as big as 64 bits. That is wrong. If you have 2 bits, can address 4 things. If you have 3, 8 things. 4 bits, 16. 65 bits is twice as big as 64 bits, not 128. 128 bits is 18.5 quintillion times bigger than 64 bits.